How Patients and Their Families Manage Life on the LVAD Heart Device – Frances Barg PhD

Observing that “lifesaving technologies have proliferated dramatically within the past few decades, yet there is scant understanding of the ramifications of such technologies in the world of patients and their families,” PRC Researcher Frances Barg, PhD, MEd, and co-authors examine how patients and their families face health decisions that accompany use of the LVAD (left ventricular assist device) heart pump in the January 2017 issue of The American Journal of Bioethics.

“The findings from our study sound the call for further investigation of nuanced approaches to patient-centered interventions that take into account the impact of technologies on meaning, identity, and patient and family experience,” according to the authors. “Such intervention may better prepare and orient patients and their families to life with the LVAD. It is incumbent upon those of us who work with these technologies to recognize the complexities of these experiences and reflect upon the emergent ethical, clinical, and social cultures that can obscure them.”

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